Analytics Blog | The Italian Job

As always, there is a lot of talk about whether Strade Bianche should be a “monument” or not… I’m of the opinion that it should be for UCI race classification, even if it will never be part of the “Big 5.” However, that is a discussion for another time…

This article looks at the combined races of Strade Bianche (SB) and Milano-Sanremo (MSR) - both on an individual level and team level. In 2023, there were 59 riders who started both races with 41 riders finishing the “Race Block”.

While the number seems high, many of the main riders didn’t race both races. For example, Tom Pidcock (Ineos), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma), and Neilson Powless (EF Education First) only rode Strade Bianche. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) only rode MSR.

Attila Valter (Jumbo-Visma, now Visma | Lease-a-Bike) won the combined races after finishing 5th in Strade Bianche and 34th in MSR - just enough to edge Matej Mohoric (6th in Strade Bianche and 10th in MSR for Bahrain-Victorious) by five seconds. Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) came 3rd after finishing 15th in Strade Bianche and then winning MSR solo.

The Team Classification, which looks at the best rider for each team on each stage, showed that Ineos dominated the two races, with Tom Pidcock soloing to victory in Stade Bianche before Ganna provided an amazing 2nd place in MSR. Behind Ineos finished Jumbo-Visma (Tiesj Benoot and Wout van Aert finishing 3rd in each race, respectively), with Groupama-FDJ rounding off the podium after finishing 2nd in Strade Bianche (with Valentin Madouas) and 29th in MSR (Kevin Geniets, who finished in the main bunch).

Out of the riders who could contend in both Strade Bianche and Milano-Sanremo, the only riders who didn’t do both were Mathieu Van Der Poel (who missed Strade Bianche) and Wout van Aert (who didn’t start either). Perhaps, you could argue that Michael Matthews could contend in Strade Bianche as well.

Pogacar’s 81km solo attack in Strade Bianche meant that the Race Block win was almost a certainty (outside of Pogacar not finishing MSR). Toms Skuijins (Lidl-Trek) and Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-DSNY) also confirmed their likely podium for the race block too.

Tom Pidcock (Ineos) and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious) were two of the top favourites of both races, and arguably both could have won MSR without MDVP’s super domestique role for (eventual winner) Jasper Philipsen. Pidcock finished 4th ahead of Mohoric (5th) for the this Race Block. Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale) is the only other rider who did well in both races, finishing 6th.

Such was the destruction at Strade-Bianche that the team classification copies the individual standings. The biggest disappointments were Visma Lease-a-Bike (finishing 11th), over 6 minutes behind, and Soudal Quick-Step (finishing 21st), over 12 minutes down.